Govt rebuts Rahul’s charges

In a strong rebuttal of charges levelled against the government by Rahul Gandhi, Congress Vice President, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu lambasted the party of forgetting its past misdeeds. “People who are criticising this action (ban on TV channels) are the same people who had put behind bars an artist for cartoons” he said

“21 channels were banned during UPA regime, some were banned for airing midnight masala” he added.

Explaining government’s position on the one day ban of NDTV India, the minister said-“We are worried about daylight portrayal of terror activities with running commentary on whereabouts of ammo depot, etc”

Cong has no right to criticise,if they point fingers, it will revert to them.They’ve curtailed press & civil freedom during emergency, he remarked.

“BJP has never called any PM ‘khoon ka dalal’. This is the kind of freedom people have now. That party is talking about democracy & fundamental rights; Cong party is getting frustrated because they’re losing state after state. During emergency Opposition was put behind bars, democratic rights were trampled, civil liberty was curtailed, censorship was imposed on media. All this is a recent history” Naidu stated

Democracy has never been this vibrant, people from all walks of life feel they have a say in Govt issues, Venkaiah Naidu said.